DuPage Democrats re-elect county leader

The DuPage County Democratic Organization unanimously re-elected Gayl Ferraro to head the party for the next two years at an annual convention marked by a growing sense of optimism.

Almost 100 people attended the gathering, packing into a classroom Monday night at the Illinois Institute of Technology's Wheaton campus. Lost on nobody was the strong showing in the March 16 primary election by Democrats, who pulled more than 42 percent of the 150,658 ballots registered in DuPage--often touted as the nation's most Republican county.

"Last month, I think a lot of our hard work paid off," Ferraro, 53, of Lombard told the cheering crowd. "I think it was rather obvious."

Two years earlier almost 70 percent of the primary voters in DuPage were Republican. No Democrats hold countywide office, and there are no Democrats on the 18-member County Board.

Many party members concede the strong turnout was fueled by anger at the Bush administration, even though the Democratic presidential race had been decided by the time the Illinois primary was held. Still, Democrats long have hoped that changing demographics in DuPage could favor them, with more Chicago transplants, independent voters and minorities moving out to the suburbs.

Kathryn "Tinker" Harvey, 80, a former county Democratic chairwoman who has been involved with the party since the 1960s, says times are changing--the party is providing more alternatives on the ballot, and people moving in from Chicago are not reflexively voting Republican once they get here anymore.

"I would say there's a very good electricity in the room," she observed.